3 Winners Defying the Dow's Drop

At the halfway point of the trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) was down 79 points (-0.61%) to 13,010. The S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) is down 7 points (-0.48%) to 1,399.

There were two economic releases today that proved negative for stocks. The Institute for Supply Management reported that its manufacturing index fell to 49.6% last month -- a three-year low. That is down from July's 49.8% and June's 49.7%, and the third straight month below 50%. Readings above 50% mean there was economic growth, while figures below 50% mean there was economic contraction.

The second economic release was the Commerce Department's construction spending report for July. Analysts had expected a gain of 0.5% and were disappointed when construction spending actually fell 0.9%.

Stocks around the world fell on the news, but a few are defying the downward move.

Today's Dow leaders

Today's Dow leader is (NYSE: WMT), up 1.29% to $73.54. The company posted its second-quarter earnings three weeks ago. Wal-Mart missed analysts' expectations on sales growth but slightly beat on earnings per share. Same-stores sales were up 2.2%, versus expectations of 2.7%. Earnings per share were a penny above the forecast $1.17. Looking ahead, the back-to-school season is in full swing, which should help the company's Q3 earnings. Wal-Mart typically does well when times are bad, as consumers are drawn by the retailer's low prices. However, Fool analyst Austin Smith believes that Wal-Mart is overrated and that there are better places for your money. Click here to find out more.

Kraft (NYS: KFT) is third, up 0.46% to $41.69. Close competitor Campbell's reported Q4 earnings that trounced analyst expectations. The reason Kraft is up is that Campbell's also announced a better-than-expected outlook for 2013. Fool analysts Catherine Baab-Muguira and Isaac Pino recently took a look at the company andwhy investors are enamored of it.